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The Organization 
of Personality 


by 


Waights Gibbs Henry, A.M., B.D., Pb.D, 


Author of 

“The Negro As An Economic Factor 
in Alabama". 


< 3 p) 

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Press of 

BIRMINGHAM PRINTING COMPANY 
Birmingham, Alabama 


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Man is not only fearfully and wonderfully 
made but he is also gloriously made. God 
never made any two of us alike. As one star 
differs from another star in glory, so do we. 
We all differ but we are in glory. Then when 
imitation of another’s gifts is attempted and 
when undeveloped faculties are permitted, 
God’s purpose is defeated, society’s interests 
are harmed and individual glory immeasur¬ 
ably lessened. “Know Thyself’’ is a funda¬ 
mental creed for growing up into our living 
Head. Having learned what are the original 
endowments, we have an index to capacity, 
adaptability and the direction of the invest¬ 
ment of life. 

u ( 

If any reader will be helped in matters per¬ 
taining to life and Godliness, the author of 
these lines will be abundantly blessed. 


Glili 

AutbOl 

UCf 192? 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER I 

The Present Status of Religious Education. 

CHAPTER II 
The Inborn Elements. 

CHAPTER III 
The Unifying Process. 

CHAPTER IV 
The Divine Ideal. 

CHAPTER V 

The Supremacy of the Mind of the Spirit. 

CHAPTER VI 
The Unit of Causation. 



CHAPTER I 

The Present Status of Religious Education. 

“Dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to 
the churches when our ministers shall lie in 
the dust” was the formulated and publicly ex¬ 
pressed motive for the founding of the early 
educational institutions in America. This 
idea found expression in the erection of Har¬ 
vard, Yale, William and Mary and other col¬ 
leges so as to furnish the youth of the land 
with both learning and piety. These schools 
were to qualify the American citizen for juris¬ 
prudence, medicine, belle lettres, but also add¬ 
ing the necessary moral elements. Men were 
to be prepared for the ministry who could 
“preach to the heart without scandalizing the 
mind.’’ 

For the first sixty years of the life of Har¬ 
vard College, fifty per cent of her graduates be¬ 
came ministers in some Christian church. 
Yale sent forth forty per cent of her graduates 
into the ministry in the first forty years of her 
history. For the first decade about seventy- 

[ 5 ] 


ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


five per cent entered the ministry. Princeton 
sent more into that form of service for the first 
five years of her existence than she did for 
fifty years after the Revolutionary War. So 
it would seem, whatever the claim was, that 
institutions were established for ecclesiastical 
purposes. Practically every college president 
was a minister and many in the factulties were 
ordained men. Thus the educational program 
ran. The establishment of the University of 
Virginia set another order in motion. It was 
more or less a reaction against the reign of 
the ecclesiastic regime. The break was never 
abrupt in that educational era. It was not 
heralded with brazen trumpets nor with flaunt¬ 
ing banners. Nevertheless the modification 
was as sure as it was silent. In order to ascer¬ 
tain how far the so-called non-sectarian has 
projected itself into the educational circles, 
you can learn for yourself by an examination 
of the books in use in the grammar grades. 
The readers which formerly contained splen¬ 
did moral lessons have been, in a way, dis¬ 
placed by such as contain nature, mythologi- 

[ 6 ] 



PRESENT STATUS OF EDUCATION 


cal or pagan stories. This is worthy of serious 
consideration since we find that this step has 
placed us back to the early life of the race with 
its crude and irregular morals. The ideals of 
the schoolroom as obtained from the curricu¬ 
lum are not now Christian. We are well aware 
that many persons have indulged in much sport 
when they had under consideration a reader 
which was used fifty years ago. The most of 
the readers carried stories containing morals, 
—morals whose import was beyond the under¬ 
standing of the pupil who was reciting the les¬ 
son. The unpsychological process may be ex¬ 
cused when we discover that such stories con¬ 
tained deferred blessings and rarely lost bene¬ 
fits. 

Of course there is no Christian geography, 
no Christian mathematics. But it makes an 
everlasting difference to the student, when we 
consider the manner manifested by the 
teachers’ attitude. The place of the Christian 
college is justified when we see that it stands 
for satisfying the spiritual needs of men. The 
educator who does not know that there is in 

[ 7 1 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


every normal person a religious craving at 
thirteen, sixteen and twenty-one years of 
age,—a craving just as natural as physical 
hunger,—is blind and cannot see afar off. He 
should not be permitted to exercise profes¬ 
sorial functions. Christ’s method of saving 
the world is by evangelization. That is to say, 
evangelization is the end but education is the 
process or method to be used in the accom¬ 
plishment of that end. 

There are three agencies in use today by 
which religious education is to be attained: 
the home, the school and the church with its 
different branches of instruction and activities. 
These three agencies are inseparably bound 
together. The weakness or strength of the 
one limits or expands the usefulness of the 
others. A child eugenically born and reared 
in a Christian home, taught by consecrated 
Sunday school teachers can be later sent to an 
educational institution which has on the teach¬ 
ing staff some who do not believe in God or 
immortality; teachers who do not practice 
prayer and who contend that the Bible is as 

[ 8 ] 



PRESENT STATUS OF EDUCATION 


any other book of history or geology, indeed 
not as authentic as some. This thesis is intend¬ 
ed to show that a pupil thus situated is ex¬ 
posed to a hazardous experiment and to a 
jeopardizing risk to which he should not be 
subjected . He might survive the moral strain, 
but where is the justification for such a test? 

Let us first consider the work of training 
and of forming religious influences as they ap¬ 
pear in the home. It is an age-old fallacy that 
women are expected to give all of the formal 
instruction in righteousness. The following 

poem, with certain ellipses, voices a very large 
sentiment: 

If I were hanged on the highest hill, 

I know whose love would follow me still, 
Mother o’ mine. 

If I were drowned in the deepest sea, 

I know whose tears would come down to me, 
Mother o’ mine. 

If I were damned of body and soul, 

I know whose prayers would make me whole, 
Mother o’ mine. 


[ 9 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


Further, there has been established a “Mothers’ 
Day,’’ when a red or white flower is to be worn 
according to whether she is living or dead. 
The special service is intended to honor the 
life or memory of mother. This custom ac¬ 
centuates the already overworked sentiment of 
a mother’s influence to the exclusion of the 
father’s part in the participation of the spir¬ 
itual energies of domestic life. Woman’s 
work, which has been abundant and indis¬ 
putably effective, has received such emphasis 
that, by common consent, men are partially 
excused from personal responsibility. But 
whatever society does in this matter, God has 
His own inflexible rule. Every child needs 
the associate advice and Godly counsel of both 
parents. Any child bereft of the physical or 
spiritual presence of either parent is injured. 
If a child is void of both parents, physically 
and spiritually, how unspeakably great is that 
calamity! 

In recent years certain organizations have 
fostered the “Father and Son Banquet’’ idea. 
This move is right in principle but wrong in 

[ 10 ] 



PRESENT STATUS OF EDUCATION 


application. A father does not get into better 
understanding or win a closer confidence of 
his son at a public gathering. Intimacy and 
confidence are usually begotten in privacy. 
The public banquet movement defeats the 
very object which it hoped to accomplish. 

Hired or volunteer guardianship in religious 
education is far better than none at all. While 
convents, god-fathers and such like may serve 
as a makeshift, yet God looks to none of these, 
primarily. Home responsibilities cannot be 
shuffled off at will as an outer garment. Every 
home succeeds or fails in direct proportion to 
the moral contribution which it makes or fails 
to make to human society. 

The home is the place par excellence of in¬ 
formal instruction. It really has no equal in 
this respect, due to the constant association 
with the children. The home furnishes a place 
of primacy to parental precept and example. 
A further advantage is given in that from the 
very beginning of conscious life, and upward 
for a few years, imitation is the order of the 
child’s nature and the parents can environ the 

[ 11 J 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


child with such concrete examples as will be 
wholesomely abiding. It is surprising that 
men who are recognized in the world as really 
great, will pray to a patron saint and believe in 
the efficacy of such a prayer. It is as absurd 
as a superstitious person who will carry a 
buckeye in the pocket as a talisman to ward 
off contagious diseases. It is explained on the 
historical ground that the idea was implanted 
in the non-protestant mind in early childhood. 
Only God knows how far down the journey 
of life these early impressions will endure. 
Eternity will reveal how destiny-making they 
are! 

The two greatest sources for religious in¬ 
spiration in the home, besides the merely in¬ 
formal processes, are the family altar and 
religious literature,—especially biography. 
The thesis can probably be established that 
the average American home is without fam¬ 
ily worship, a worth-while hymn book, auto¬ 
biographies of missionaries and great preach¬ 
ers, books of theology or Bible helps. Then 
are we shocked into thought or moved to ac- 

1 12 ] 




PRESENT STATUS OF EDUCATION 


tion when we discover that the children of 
the present day find delight in other than 
religious matters? The home has a place 
which nothing else can supply. “Thou shalt 
teach them (the laws of God) diligently unto 
thy children’’ is a part of the Old Testament 
requirement for home religion. Question: 
Why will we permit the principles which 
have had Divine sanction for all the cen¬ 
turies, by which we are to save our house¬ 
hold with us, to fall into disuse? Let some 
Ezra open the Book which has been hid¬ 
den away in the rubbish of forgetfulness, or 
neglected because of the feverish haste and 
fretful strain of modern life, call us back 
to quiet and to God! 

At the outset it must be confessed that 
the Sunday school has, like the home, certain 
limitations which should be faced. There 
are many such schools \yhich do monumental 
work for the kingdom. There are others 
which suffer by reason of serious handicaps, 
because the teachers are: (1 ) pedagogically 
unprepared, (2) limited in Biblical knowl- 

[ 13 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


edge, (3) without spiritual power, (4) only 
superficially interested in the work, (3) dis¬ 
seminators of non-Christian doctrines. But 
if all of these objections could be removed 
by a wave of the hand, it yet remains a fact 
that twenty-five million persons in our bor¬ 
ders are receiving no kind of religious in¬ 
struction whatsoever, since there are that 
many persons who do not enter any church 
for reproof, correction or instruction in right¬ 
eousness. Admitting these irregularities and 
certain gross errors now extant in the Sun¬ 
day school world, all statements need not be 
derogatory of her work. The Sunday school 
furnishes the church with members and the 
church in turn affords the only noticeable 
moral power in the world which works as an 
organized force. Many clubs now do excel¬ 
lent community service but their brightness 
is a borrowed light. The Sunday school 
must ever be a great institution since it deals 
with “The Child in the Midst.” What a 
mighty potentiality is in the custody of this 
branch of the church! In 1921 Germany 

[ 14 ] 



PRESENT STATUS OF EDUCATION 


said that it was impossible to pay her in¬ 
demnity bill to the Allied nations in forty 
years. Gentle reader, there are enough young 
men (leaving out of our estimate the young 
women) in America between fifteen and twen¬ 
ty-four years of age who, if they received a 
bricklayer’s wage, could pay Germany’s $56,- 
000,000,000.00 in three years, having every 
Sunday for worship, every Thursday for full 
holiday and a half of every Saturday for rest. 
As the home is the opportunity for informal 
instruction, the Sunday school is the oppor¬ 
tunity for formal instruction. David Brainerd 
began his work among the Indians on the Hud¬ 
son River. He was not more than twenty-nine 
years of age when he went from his earthly la¬ 
bor into heavenly rest. But his career stirred 
William Carey’s heart and he likewise be¬ 
came a missionary. When Henry Martyn 
read the life story of Brainerd he also went 
to the “farflung battle-line” of missionary 
service. 

It is a fair question to ask: ‘‘Cannot the 
State educate all children in the common- 

1 15 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


wealth?” If so, then there is no need for 
another school.” The State can do certain 
types of teaching but she is forever divorced 
from teaching religion, being barred by con¬ 
stitutional restrictions. The church or de¬ 
nominational school has the advantage over 
state institutions in that she can both edu¬ 
cate and Christianize the youth of the land. 
It should be admitted that the purely State 
schools can show a few fine examples of Chris¬ 
tian scholars, yet when a comparison is made 
with the church institutions the Christian 
college receives the honorable mention. 
There are more young men in the denomi¬ 
national institutions of Alabama in the ses¬ 
sion of 1921-1922 who are preparing for the 
ministry than have been furnished by all 
other schools in the whole lifetime of them 
taken together. What a splendid field for 
finding recruits for all manner of world ser¬ 
vice did the church school prove to be during 
the Centenary call in the Methodist Episco¬ 
pal Church, South! The other institutions 
in Alabama had perhaps four times as many 

1 16 ] 



PRESENT STATUS OF EDUCATION 


Methodist boys as had the Birmingham- 
Southern College, but recruits for definite 
Christian service were scarce. On a recent 
visit to Birmingham, Ala., October 26, 1921, 
President Warren G. Harding said in refer¬ 
ence to the Birmingham-Southern College 
and denominational schools in general: “I 
have a positive reverence for such schools.” 

It is quite true that students who leave 
home are thrust into a new environment on 
their arrival at college. A Harvard profes¬ 
sor who has written a very suggestive book 
dealing with the religious education of an 
American youth was moved to devote a 
whole chapter to ‘‘The Religion of a College 
Student.” The problem is not so simple as 
it seems because the teacher as well as the 
student adds to the complexity of the situ¬ 
ation. Many of the teachers are without 
experience. Many are thus employed until 
they can get married, using the teaching task 
as a means to tide them over economically 
during a given period of unemployment. 
Many are engaged in this enterprise without 

1 17 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


any special love for the work as a life task. 
Resides these weak points of the profession, 
this further point might be emphasized: 
those who are supposed to be interested in 
religious education, as well as those who do 
not magnify religious influences, seem to 
overlook one great psychological factor when 
they fill the profession with so large a num¬ 
ber of women teachers. There comes a time 
in the life of every boy when he needs and 
requires a man as an instructor. There is 
another factor in school life which has a 
weak element as well as a good quality. 
We refer to Student Government. It has a 
very beautiful theory connected with it. The 
defense made on its behalf is that it teaches 
self-reliance, honor, initiation. Its weakness 
is found in the fact that it often draws a line 
of cleavage between the faculty and the 
student body. Its greatest defect is that the 
majority of the boys, however excellent in 
moral character, running even to the “Nth” 
degree, have not had sufficient experience in 
life to enable them to decide wisely in a 

1 18 ] 



PRESENT STATUS OF EDUCATION 


given situation or emergency. However, 
Student Government is the common practice 
in educational circles. It may still be an 
open question as to the superiority of the 
moral action of the present high school or 
college boy over that of yesterday. When 
America entered the World War no “Student 
Government” was permitted in the army. 
Every man acted according to the rules submit¬ 
ted to him by his superior in rank. Should not 
rulership belong to the faculty in any school 
and obedience be the virtue of every student? 
Obedience must become a habit before ruler- 
ship becomes a possibility. In the New 
Testament it is stated that Jesus went down 
from the Temple in Jerusalem with his par¬ 
ents and was subject to them. He was never, 
at any time, more engaged in the work of 
the Kingdom than he was when he was at 
Nazareth ‘‘Subject unto them.” 

One great opportunity that the school has 
in the work of training for usefulness is that 
it has control of many youths when they are 
prepared to make selective courses and can 

[ 19 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


drive steadily toward a well-defined goal. In 
early adolescence the whole field of life 
choices are open before the student. Each 
passing year narrows or eliminates these 
choices. His high school and early college 
life should enable him to make more than a 
chance success. The greatest single factor 
at this particular age is the presence of a 
great personality as a teacher. We are well 
aware that this is a scarce article. Blessed 
is that institution which has one such man 
who is a member of the faculty. Thrice 
blessed is that youth who learns from such a 
master! A gracious Christian personality, 
strong and clear in his judgments, sets doubts 
which are in the mind of the student, at 
nought. Indecision fades away into confi¬ 
dence and the value of logic is heightened 
when his endorsement is expressed. Besides 
the inspirational value of such a teacher, it 
is quite likely that more young men will 
enter other callings or professions than the 
merely industrial. No other school compares 
with those under church auspices in inducing 

1 20 ] 



PRESENT STATUS OF EDUCATION 


young men to enter the ministry, missionary 
enterprises and the enlarged program of ser¬ 
vice now open for an unselfish life invest¬ 
ment. Men generally undertake to do what 
is present in the mind. Since no specific or 
sustained effort is made in other schools to 
keep the subject of life surrendered to a defi¬ 
nite religious activity before the mind of 
youths, they do what the curriculum and the 
environment suggest, namely: enter law, the 
teaching profession, agriculture, business or 
other avenues leading toward economic ends 
only. This paragraph is not a case study, 
but reflection brings to mind the fact that 
many of my college mates in the Southern 
University entered the ministry after gradu¬ 
ation. While in the pursuit of an academic 
course many of them had other plans than 
the ministry in mind. 

The world owes a debt to Martin Luther, 
John Calvin, Adam Clark, John Wesley, 
Latimer, Zwingli, Jonathan Edwards and Sam¬ 
uel J. Mills—all of whom were finished schol¬ 
ars and Christian gentlemen. There is extant 

1 21 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


a thought that higher education is in conflict 
with spirituality. This belief is, however, 
unsound. Among the attributes of God, 
theologians enumerate Omniscience as being 
one. Then if Knowledge does not lessen or 
impair God’s Spirituality why should it limit 
yours? Any factor which is consistent with 
God’s character will not be out of harmony 
in yours. On the other hand, it would seem 
that the more knowledge you possess the more 
are you growing like your Father. As religion 
is supposed to restore man to “original right¬ 
eousness’’ so education is intended to restore 
man to a rightful relation in his mind. The 
pages of history scarcely have a more shining 
name than that of John Knox, who is known 
the world over as the saint who said, in pre¬ 
vailing prayer: “Give me Scotland or I die.’’ 
Let us remember to render praise to him for 
his spiritual life while we also hold in mind 
that he was an alumnus of the University of 
Glasgow. Having such a quickened intellect 
reinforced by spiritual fervor, no wonder 
Queen Mary of Scotland said: “I fear the 

1 22 ] 



PRESENT STATUS OF EDUCATION 


prayers of John Knox more than I do an 
army of ten thousand men.” A Methodist 
bishop once said that he would pit one well 
educated preacher against one hundred igno¬ 
rant wicked men. This may overstate the 
case, but it discloses the emphasis which the 
bishop placed on Christian education. 

The wonderful work of the mighty Prot¬ 
estant Reformation was retarded and 
nearly completely estopped in twenty-five 
years by the establishing of Jesuitical schools 
by the Roman Catholic constituency. 

There are millions of seeds that do not 
mature. Many germinate, but the grass is 
later eaten by the beast of the field or trod¬ 
den under foot of man. Many flowers do 
blush unseen and thus fail to hapify the 
heart of man. Likewise, many millions of 
souls do not function properly in life because 
they have not had such an educational 
and religious environment as would enable 
them to become as it were “the full corn 
in the ear.” 


[ 23 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


The theory, then, is that he 

“Who makes by force his merit known 
And lives to clutch the golden keys 
To mould a mighty state’s decrees 
And shape the whispers of the throne” 

must have a wisdom which is the result of a 
knowledge of human history, a sanity which 
will inspire confidence in his leadership, a 
faith commensurate with the challenge of the 
age. The contention of this book is that 
the qualifications for such leadership is to 
be attained, not by books or curricula 
alone, but by observing what is within man 
and by giving heed to the psychological fac¬ 
tors and processes in man. So our study is 
the consideration of that overlooked element 
in life which preserves or imperils civiliza¬ 
tion according to its normalcy or delin¬ 
quency—an organized personality. 


1 24 ] 



CHAPTER II 


The Inborn Elements 

The providential ordering has given us a 
variety of colors in the different races of 
mankind. Nations may also be differenti¬ 
ated by height, weight and other physical 
qualities which are peculiar to themselves. 
But in the midst of this variety there is found 
an unmistakable unity. There are certain 
endowments of man—the anthropos—which 
are common to all men alike. Every nor¬ 
mal person, irrespective of race, nationality, 
culture or creed, must have certain qualities 
of life which help him to achieve worthy 
ends. 

Then if these qualities are universal we 
may deduce that they are not gotten by any 
process of the conjurer. There is no hawker 
of such qualities nor can they be obtained 
by trickery, deceit, robbery or cajolery. In 
no sense of the word are they to be secured. 
They are matters which are inborn; they are 

[ 25 ] 


ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


ours by inheritance; in short, they are of 
Divine origin. They, like every instinct of 
man, are impartial gifts of God. 

This theory will surely be in conflict with 
that age-old dogma that every child is born 
with a nature so depraved that he is inca¬ 
pable of any good until he is morally made 
anew. The advocates of that dogma furnish 
the illustration of the infant who bites or 
strikes its mother thus showing that the fight 
spirit manifests itself quite early in life. As 
in most cases our debates arise because of 
definitions or a starting point, so in this in¬ 
stance. It does not necessarily follow that 
because an infant exhibits a bad temper that 
therefore the pugnacious tendency is of evil 
origin. It may, on the other hand, show de¬ 
fects in training. It is well known that we re¬ 
quire the combative in attempting to solve a 
problem in mathematics, in laborious and 
sustained effort for the perfecting of a patent 
or in the monotonous winning of a com¬ 
petency. Every worthful life must be the 
possessor of the combative. This applies all 

[ 26 ] 



THE INBORN ELEMENTS 


the way from the mere struggle for existence 
up to the moral contest of wrestling with 
spiritual wickedness in high places. However 
much the instinct may be used as an instru¬ 
ment of unrighteousness, please bear in mind 
that it is of Divine origin and was so created 
that it was obviously intended to serve moral 
ends. 

These elements of which we are now 
thinking are discussed in every text book on 
psychology. They are called Intellect, Feel¬ 
ing, and Will, and sometimes they are men¬ 
tioned as modes of the mind’s activity. 
These factors operate in all normal persons, 
in all lands, in all times. 

The Intellect has many subdivisions. We 
hnd that Sensations, which may be either 

general or special, furnish the primary basis 
of knowledge. Through Sensations the in¬ 
fant obtains his first knowledge of facts in 
the outside world. But let us omit, for our 
purpose, the consideration of Sensations and 
several other modes of the mind’s activity such 
as Perceptions and Judgment and address our 
attention to the subjects of Imagination and 

[ 27 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


Memory only. We select these two, not be¬ 
cause they are more important than any other 
part of personality, but because they are 
more universally known to most persons. To 
discuss all of them would lead us far afield, 
besides we may use Imagination and Mem¬ 
ory as typical examples of the Divine origin 
and purpose of all other inborn elements. 

Imagination appears early in the develop¬ 
ment of the child’s life if we accept, as ex¬ 
pert evidence, the many testimonies from in¬ 
structors in Paidology. Imagination is the 
picture-making faculty in man. By its use 
one can experience the invisible and the 
spiritual as though they were actually pres¬ 
ent and in concrete form. God seems to 
have reserved the power for abstract thought, 
the ability to use or require logical sequence, 
for a later period in life. One of the many 
things that differentiate man from the lower 
animals is the power for abstract thinking. 
The lower animals have such instincts as are 
common to man, as fighting, fear, gregari¬ 
ousness, reproduction and protection of spe- 

[ 28 ] 



THE INBORN ELEMENTS 


cies and a multitude of others. But there is 
no evidence that they are able to deal in ab¬ 
stract thinking. From the days of Samson 
unto the present era bees have continued to 
make cells in the identical way. Birds have 
never changed their style of architecture in 
nest building, nor have they ever varied a 
musical note in their mirthful melodies of 
praise. Abstract thought is the manifest 
crown of glory of man’s intellect. 

Early childhood, however, is lived in an¬ 
other world. It has full sway in the fairy 
kingdom. Before the period of disillusion 
sets in and before one is tempered by expe¬ 
rience with dishonesty and sobered by the 
treachery of cunning craftiness, one must live 
through and emerge from this wonderfully 
charming era. What a wealth of joy is real¬ 
ized in the fairy story, in the purely make- 
believe! The little mind has no difficulty in 
regarding chips of wood or bits of stone as 
really being cities or men. It is not morally 
wrong for parents or teachers to encourage 
those in early childhood to look forward to 

[ 29 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


the coming of Santa Claus with his large 
sack filled with candies, dolls, drums, knives, 
horns, fireworks and all manner of good 
things. Some parents, more strict than sen¬ 
sible, deprive their children of this unfading 
enrichment of life. God, through nature, is 
jealous for the child. He does not give the 
teacher, the neighbor nor the priest, however 
excellent any and all of them may be, the 
first chance to love and to direct the unfold¬ 
ing life. He reserves that holy and sacred 
trust for the parents. They can helpfully 
use the heaven-born bestowment of Imagi¬ 
nation and enable the child to live in his 
symbolic world unspoiled by many worries 
which infest the period of maturation. 

It would be a grievous error if we should 
neglect to give any other office to Imagina¬ 
tion except that which it surely has in child¬ 
hood. Perhaps you know the man of whom 
I am about to speak. He lives in nearly 
everybody’s community. He is the man who 
is commonly regarded as the community 
liar. Most absurd things are told by him as 

[ 30 ] 



THE INBORN ELEMENTS 


being actually true. No one takes him seri¬ 
ously for every one knows that he will lie when 
the truth would serve his purpose better. 
The public knows that he is not malicious in 
his statements. He really sees men as “trees 
walking.” The explanation of such a char¬ 
acter is that when a child, consciously or 
unconsciously, too much was made of Imagi¬ 
nation. When he became a man the childish 
element was not eliminated but was carried 
over into manhood. He failed to cast off his 
“out grown shell.” To neglect the culture of 
Imagination or to attempt to educate with¬ 
out recognizing the large place which it holds 
in childhood would be hazardous for sym¬ 
metrical growth. But the later function of 
Imagination is believed to be the ability to 
compel the invisible and the hitherto uncre¬ 
ated and the hitherto uncombined forces to 
serve for practical ends in the advancement 
of the arts of civilization and the comforts of 
life. The fertile imagination that early saw 
elves and fairies can, by proper training and 
development, later see angels in the unhewn 

[ 31 ] 




ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


bowlders or feel and transcribe the hereto¬ 
fore non-existing martial hymns or stirring 
oratorios. 

There are two types of Imagination, the 
active and the passive. The latter is illus¬ 
trated in the case where a picture was made 
by one and is now seen by another. A novelist 
may describe a fanciful love story. The 
reader may see and feel as did the writer 
but the reader has created nothing. He 
merely gets the picture which was the prod¬ 
uct of the active imagination of the author. 
As to what use these two types will serve 
depends on the character of the particular 
person under consideration. 

Memory follows immediately in chronolog¬ 
ical order this factor of the mind. Its hey¬ 
day is in late childhood. Verbal Memory is 
so easy that only one or two repetitions are 
necessary in order to commit long sections 
of either prose or poetry, though the mean¬ 
ing of the words may be unknown. As in 
the case of Imagination so also is Memory 
both active and passive. Yesterday 

[ 32 ] 


we re- 



THE INBORN ELEMENTS 


called an incident which came up without 
any effort on our part. It came as we • 
erroneously say, unbidden. Undoubtedly 
some unconscious suggestion awakened a 
chain of thought which brought this incident 
into the realm of attention. We have no 
difficulty in recognizing this as passive Mem¬ 
ory. This type is used by the aged. Did 
you ever get a Confederate Soldier started 
on the theme of the Civil War? The recital 
of one personal experience recalls another 
incident to mind. How happy such a talker 
becomes if only he can secure a patient lis¬ 
tener! In any case, be it patriotic or reli¬ 
gious, if duty has been well done, the mem¬ 
ory of such deeds comes to him like a troup 
of ministering spirits to comfort and cheer 
the hero of civil or moral conflict. But if 
his deeds have been evil the memory of them 
will eat, as doth gangrene, into his guilty 
conscience. Such memories ofttimes bring 
acidity to age. 

Active memory is a conscious effort to re¬ 
call some fact which is known to us but for 

[ 33 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


the time being has been pigeon-holed. The 
ability of the lawyer, the doctor, the orator, 
depends on the cleverness with which useful 
information can be recalled at the proper 
moment. 

The three steps or stages in remembering 
are: retention, reproduction and recognition. 
It would be more accurate to speak of mem¬ 
ories than of memory. We often hear men 
say, “I have a very poor memory.” The 
idea the speaker intends to convey is that he 
has a poor memory for some things. Even 
insane persons can remember many facts 
of experience. They can remember their 
own names, the way back home, former 
business transactions and many other items. 
Of course it will be taken for granted that 
all persons have not the same or equal ability 
in the use of memory. We cannot overlook, 
ignore, neglect or pervert any part of the In¬ 
tellect, Feeling or Will without concomi¬ 
tantly jeopardizing the whole of personality. 
Any one who cares to possess such knowl¬ 
edge can by a study of Psychology, learn 

[ 34 ] 



THE INBORN ELEMENTS 


much about the factors in personality. Many 
authors have set themselves to the task of 
discovering the period in life when each ele¬ 
ment appears; how to environ the person 
under consideration with inhibitions and with 
direct and indirect suggestions so as to secure 
the proper development; how to “lead out“ 
the Sensory minded child; how to restrain 
the Motor minded. Granting that the motive 
of the teacher, whoever he may be, is in¬ 
dubitably right, judged by any standard, yet 
by no possible means or reason can he be 
condoned if he ignores the methods that are 
necessary to insure a full development of the 
one taught. Many a child who was already 
shrinking in disposition has been whipped 
into hopeless diffidence. Many a child who 
was already too “forward” has been so en¬ 
couraged by doting parents that he has be¬ 
come distastefully and disgustingly brazen, 
a child wholly misguided and one destined to 
come to manhood shunned by acquaintances 
and despised by associates. Such an injury 
against the child, though unintentional, is a 

[ 35 ] 




ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


permanent and inexcusable detriment. Like¬ 
wise, direct suggestion wrongly given will 
make the youth resist the will of the teacher 
which will cause either a complete overthrow 
of the youthful will or it will instill a sullen 
attitude toward authority. The first will 
eventuate in a weak or imbecilic personal 
initiative, the second resulting in stubbornness. 

All of these matters are or should be of 
great moment to parents, teachers and all 
others who have committed to their hands 
the shaping of immortal destinies. It is clear 
that with intelligent guidance a growing life 
may be wonderfully aided in proper propor¬ 
tions by one who is versed in the knowledge 
of the proper stimuli needed in each division 
of life. Indeed to have and to use such 
knowledge is to work with God in the ac¬ 
complishment of His purposes. From 
Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of Man to the 
present time it has been known that each age 
or period creates and demands different treat¬ 
ment. The lover in “As You Like It,” who 
perpetrates a poem to his mistress* eyebrows, 

1 36 ] 



THE INBORN ELEMENTS 


sighing like a furnace while composing each 
line, is as far different in ideals, aspirations and 
general viewpoint from the soldier who seeks 
the bubble reputation even in the cannon’s 
mouth, as though they belonged to a differ¬ 
ent order of races dwelling in different 
planets. There are persons who have ac¬ 
complished much in the realm of history 
though they were deprived of this helpful 
directorship. But is it the connotation of a 
high order of intellect to subject a child to 
some mere chance fate? Some have acci¬ 
dentally stumbled into leadership and power 
unassisted by any intelligent selection from 
without. Is it a marvel then that we have 
so few great men? The amazing fact is that 
we have had any at all to blunder into emi¬ 
nence. To know the time when the laws 
of God can be best utilized in interest of all 
that pertains to man’s best interest is com¬ 
parable to a resident in Egypt who knows 
the time of the inundating season of the 
Nile River and plants with this in view. The 
fundamental material which enters into the 

[ 37 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


original elements of human personality may 
be dealt with as any other need in nature. 
Many from the youthful, the mature and the 
senile classes fail to delight even in Chris¬ 
tian worship because the leader does not 
know “the tide in the affairs of men” and 
consequently does not provide for the hour. 
This lack of forethought causes many a min¬ 
ister to become a “Sabbath drawler of old 
saws, distilled from some worm-eaten hom¬ 
ily.” Even so good a man and so profound 
a scholar as John Wesley could not 
understand why children did not relish aris¬ 
ing at five o’clock in the morning to engage 
in family worship. He did not seem to dis¬ 
cover that their lack of interest in devotions 
was not chargeable to their depravity but 
only to his lack of knowledge of the legiti¬ 
mate and Divinely set needs of their particu¬ 
lar age. What they both wanted and needed 
was sleep at that early hour. 

Much lugubrious talk is being perpetrated 
under the caption, “Americanization.” A 
move, nation-wide in its proportion, has been 

[ 38 ] 



THE INBORN ELEMENTS 


instituted, which requires all the schools to 
teach the pupils all subjects, foreign lan¬ 
guages excepted, in English only. During 
the recent World War, many schools discon¬ 
tinued the instruction in German. The sub¬ 
ject of immigration has challenged the best 
thought of our statesmen. Many laws have 
been ordained in order to protect America 
from disintegration. Many efforts have been 
made by churches, by philanthropists, by edu¬ 
cators to “Americanize” the foreigners in 
our land. It seems that the chief difficulty is 
with the immigrant. If he is an adult, coming 
over with his Old World ideas of government 
and morals, he will not likely throw them 
aside so easily when he arrives. His 
ideals will stubbornly persist and his ef¬ 
fort will be to Europeanize our government. 
Our salvation depends on our getting the 

immigrant in his tender years before the “evil 
days come.” Practically every experiment in 
immigration laws has failed. “Americaniza¬ 
tion” will become an actuality when the 
problem is attacked from a standpoint of 
psychology. 


[ 39 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


It is a crime against humanity to forever 
remain in the class of the willingly incompe¬ 
tent in the field of religious education. How 
far reaching is the effect of the law of Apper¬ 
ception! How mightily character is created 
or modified or destroyed through its opera¬ 
tion! “Truth is mighty and will prevail” as 
we are wont to hear. But in teaching you 
must remember that the response awakened 
depends as much on the child’s interpreta¬ 
tion as upon the truth which you speak. 
There was a certain Sunday school which had 
an orchestra. At each session, while the 
classes were forming, a selection of music 
was rendered by the band. Any one could 
tell that the thoughts evoked by the music 
were of the ballroom variety. Though the 
whole school was just emerging from the 
worship period, they were now going into 
the instruction period with exceedingly poor 
preparation. 

But how can we familiarize ourselves with 
such factors as will lead to sovereign power? 
There is but one answer. It is found in the 

[ 40 ] 



THE INBORN ELEMENTS 


prosaic and of times insipid word, “study.” 
“My people perish for lack of knowledge” is 
the way Hosea puts it. Certainly it is fifty 
times easier to induce men to give of their 
means toward any enterprise or extension 
work of the Kingdom than it is to persuade 
them to engage in a study course however 
vital to personal efficiency and real leader¬ 
ship. There is no surer specific for killing 
any department of the church’s life, no more 
certain way to prevent the organization of 
any movement, than to announce a plan for 
a definite course of study. However that 
may be, we are the possessors of ineradi¬ 
cable and ineffaceable qualities which color 
all volitions, acts, habits, character and des¬ 
tiny. The problem is intelligently faced and 
greatly simplified when we know the original 
stuff with which and through which we are 
to attain unto honor, truth, self-control and 
self-direction—an immortality on earth and 
immutable joy in heaven. 

So the inborn elements with which God, 
through nature, endows us may be stated as 

[ 41 ] 




ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


(1 ) the Intellect, which is made up of Sen¬ 
sations, Imagination, Memory, Concepts, Per¬ 
cepts, Judgment and Reason; (2) Feeling, 
which is composed of the Egoistic and Al¬ 
truistic elements, Sensuous feelings, Emo¬ 
tions and Sentiment; (3) the Will. 

“So nigh is grandeur to our dust, 

So near is God to man,” 

that we almost hesitate to believe that by the 
proper use of these inborn elements alone 
can we rise to meet God’s expectancy of us. 
A perversion of them leads to disintegration 
and death, while a proper consideration of 
them eventuates in moral excellence beyond 
compare. 


[ 42 ] 



CHAPTER III 


The Unifying Process 

Work becomes play if it can be performed 
without attendant worry. In a very impor¬ 
tant sense, the ease with which work can 
be performed depends on the amount of in¬ 
tellectual organization. Suppose you are to 
make a European trip. The last train for 
New York which would make connection 
with your Atlantic steamer is due at 4 P. M. 
Suppose thirty minutes would be ample time 
for the purchasing of the ticket and the 
checking of the baggage. If a friend should 
place in your hand, at 3 o’clock P. M., a 
poem of four stanzas, each stanza containing 
four lines, could you memorize the poem be¬ 
fore you left the room? The well nigh uni¬ 
versal answer would be, “No." It is generally 
conceded that twenty minutes are sufficient 
for the memorization of such a selection, but 
certainly not when a trip abroad is in the 
mind. Just here we find the heart of the 

[ 43 I 


ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


matter. Something other than a poem is now 
before the attention, and this something re¬ 
fuses to be obscured. But can’t this thought 
of a trip be dislodged? The answer depends 
wholly on the ability one has acquired to co¬ 
ordinate and purposefully use what in Chap¬ 
ter II we termed “The Original Elements.” A 
man who is reared a good distance from the 
noise and bustle of a city finds it impossible 
to have a comfortable night’s repose in a 
downtown hotel. One who is accustomed to 
the din and rattle of the streets finds it like¬ 
wise impossible to sleep where silence is 
ominous. 

The well ordered life is assuredly under 
the control of an effective Will—the coeffi¬ 
cient Will—which impels only the morally fit 
action. In the beginning of life, personality 
is not disorganized but unorganized. It will 
remain in this state until definite steps are 
taken to shape human acts and correlate the 
main springs of volition. Either neglect or 
overt sin will prevent organization—the for¬ 
mer may and the latter surely will. Irre- 

1 44 ] 



THE UNIFYING PROCESS 


spective of her belief, the practice of the 
church has been to atone for this lack of 
organization by the process of an annual 
revival. This word is not to reflect on the 
revivals, for they will be needed until the 
end of time. But it must be admitted that 
the revival, as it relates to the state of the 
unsaved, must be considered more or less 
as an emergency matter only. It is in reality 
a drastic effort to bring to a sudden stop 
some man who is in present peril. Every 
time it is necessary to conduct one for the 
unsaved it is a confession on our part that 
somewhere along the line we have failed. 
We have allowed the children and young 
people to slip through our fingers. For cen¬ 
turies the church has almost wholly depended 
on revivals to overcome all of the neglect 
of religious instruction in the home and in 
the Sunday school. So when a great in¬ 
gathering was realized it would not be long 
thereafter before many slipped back into the 
world whence they came. The fault was not 
with the revival but with the individuals who 

[ 45 ] 



f 


ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


had not been built up, fortified and unified by 
one increasing spiritual passion. These con¬ 
verts who had hitherto lived for years in sin 
were received into the church and were ex¬ 
pected to take their places beside the seasoned 
saints. This they could not do because they had 
no foundation on which to build. At last the 
church has inaugurated an educational pro¬ 
gram of increasing magnitude whereby our 
children may know and love God with the 
dawning of consciousness and be rooted and 
fixed in the faith through the efforts of skilled 
workers in the home and the church. Bible 
study courses have been adaptably arranged 
for each period of development. In order, 
therefore, to persistently push on towards the 
goal of a unified personality there must be no 
moral holidays declared, no cessation from 
moral effort. The revival must be preceded 
and followed by a vigorous course of Biblical 
instruction if we would conserve its helpful 
value. 

The Will is not something that may arise 
at any moment and demand appropriate ac- 

[ 46 ] 



THE UNIFYING PROCESS 


tion. Much loose talk is often heard anent the 
freedom of the Will. There was never a more 
hurtful doctrine disseminated than the postu¬ 
late that a man may,continue in wrongdoing 
ad libertum and whenever he chooses he can 
quit. It is generally true that we Will to do 
what is, before the mind, whether the thought 
be that of prayer or suicide. Is it not also true 
that what we Will depends in a measure on 
our past acts and habits? What would be the 
action if a holy Will would endeavor to assert 
its right when a Memory crowded with licen¬ 
tiousness, vituperation, aspersions had to be 
called into council for advice and co-operation 
in executing a good resolution? 

That one should be able to select his course 
of conduct is a theory to which all willingly 
subscribe. But this theory does not always 
work out in practice. God gave to man these 
instincts in order that they should be, not ene¬ 
mies, but allies. Had we not been so stupid 
we should have seen that God has shielded 
man with a physically helpless infancy and a 
long duration of dependency in youth so as to 

[ 47 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


give every advantage to parents in directing 
and fortifying these different strata of char¬ 
acter. “Train up a child in the way he should 
go” is the scriptural injunction, accompanied 
with the promise, “when he is old he will not 
depart from it.” A good woman bemoaning 
the shameful conduct of her son quoted these 
words and gave testimony to their empty hol¬ 
lowness. She inadvertantly overlooked the 
extraneous influence of the other teachers be¬ 
side herself. A child receives instructions 
from servants, schoolmates, playmates or 
chance visitors equally as much as from a 
mother. Had that mother been the only teach¬ 
er, Alas, Alas! her son’s conduct might have 
been exemplary. In fact, the earliest religious 
life is much more a matter of contagion aris¬ 
ing from imitation than a matter of instruc¬ 
tion. The young learn their most abiding les¬ 
sons before they know that they are learning. 
In the great Missionary Conference held in 
Edinburg in 1910, the Conference went on 
record as testifying to the value of the method 
used by the Roman Catholic Church in the 
education of their children. 

1 48 ] 



THE UNIFYING PROCESS 


We must not for a moment think of the 
mind as having separate compartments. While 
there are different agencies of the mind which 
originate different expressional activities, the 
mind must be regarded as unitary. It is abso¬ 
lutely necessary to a sanely self-directed life 
that this unifying process be observed. It must 
begin when nature brings the particular fac¬ 
ulty into being. By so doing our efforts will 
be handsomely rewarded. It is great past all 
telling to have the whole mind so controlled 
and governed as to secure the entire combined 
mental energy directed towards any desired 
end. This is the place where most men fail. 
This is the point at which most men grow pan¬ 
icky. The mental makeup of man is compara¬ 
ble to the allied armies in the war of 1914- 
1918, or more aptly to the divisions of our 
American army in that strife. What would 
have been accomplished had the Marines be¬ 
come insurgent, or if the Naval force had mu¬ 
tinied, or if the Engineer corps had failed to 
obey orders, or if the Signal corps had prac¬ 
ticed deceit? This is precisely what happens 

[ 49 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


when the mental forces are not automatically 
correlated. There have been some fine souls 
who have so mastered themselves that con¬ 
fusion was quite remote from them. No new 
or complex situation was able to destroy what 
Dr. Tichner calls the “at home” feeling. What 
is anger but a completely disorganized person¬ 
ality in the presence of an unpleasant situa¬ 
tion? It is the Midianitish army in full retreat 
with the soldiers in deadly combat against 
their comrades. We sense that anger, embar¬ 
rassment, confusion or fear—the conscious¬ 
ness of inability—are disintegrating forces 
born of inharmonious mental action. 

The insatiate demand for amusement on the 
part of our general public is due to the ina¬ 
bility of the masses to be profited by self-en¬ 
tertainment. This state of affairs arises from 
the neglect of the original elements of person¬ 
ality when “the current serves.” One of the 
infallible tests of loftiness of soul is the pure 
enjoyment in being alone. The sage, the re¬ 
ligionist, or any pensive person feels that 
solitude at times is indispensable. But those 

1 50 ] 



THE UNIFYING PROCESS 


whose minds are impoverished or void of the 
knowledge of the fruits of men’s religious 
imagination, ignorant of the mighty grip of 
heroic faith, find even momentary isolation 
to be a consuming torture. What a felicitous 
state of life it is for one to possess sufficient 
leisure in which to repeat choice gems of liter¬ 
ature, to quote sections from classic prose or 
poetry, to meditate upon—revolve in the mind 
—heart-satisfying passages of the Bible or ap¬ 
preciatively sing the great hymns of the 
church. At this particular time, of course, we 
are thinking in the individualistic area. How¬ 
ever, the influence of this work easily trans¬ 
fers itself into the realm of Social Psychology. 
Among the few national factors that portray 
American greatness, the American home may 
well head the list. What greater cementing 
principle is there in that home than the train¬ 
ing of the children to have in common with 
others an intellectual appreciation for the cul¬ 
tural side of life? What more jeopardizing 
principle is there in the American home than 
that mutual neglect of music, painting, sculp- 

[ 51 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


ture or especially religion? Such neglect in¬ 
evitably drives the inmates out into the street 
for recreative purposes. Does not such a state 
of affairs effect social enemies? It is worth 
our effort, whether patriot or preacher, to lend 
a beneficent interest to the cause of religious 
education, for the good of the individual, the 
family or the state. 

“New occasions teach new duties.” It is 
beyond our purview to discuss the question of 
the relative value of home instruction as 
against the Sunday School training. But one 
should give serious and thoughtful considera¬ 
tion to the fact that the old-fashioned family 
altar has about disappeared. We have come 
to a day when ninety-five per cent of the for¬ 
mal instruction is given entirely over to the 
teaching departments of the church. 

What if we have not the requisite time for 
the proper development of our entire person¬ 
ality? What results if we adequately consider 
some faculties and neglect others? The an¬ 
swer to the first is that we suffer permanent 
loss. The answer to the second question is 

[ 52 ] 



THE UNIFYING PROCESS 


that we become the poorer. Mr. Darwin said 
that if he had his life to go over that he would 
study music and attend a concert at least once 
a week in order to have a better intellectual 
attainment. 

The unifying effort is not an attempt to 
standardize us. This would mean probably 
the standardization of mediocrity only. A 
gracious providence has made men to differ as 
one star differs from another star in glory. All 
men are not precisely alike in Memory, in 
Imagination, Will, etc. It is also futile to ask 
which of these faculties is the more impor¬ 
tant? Certainly in one man one instinct is 
stronger, in another quite another predomi¬ 
nates. But in any case in order to prevent ar¬ 
rested development each instinct must be sup¬ 
plied with the proper stimulus. A lack of this 
creates our eccentric and oftimes our undesira¬ 
ble citizens. There can be no blanket recom¬ 
mendation which will cover all cases. Each 
individual requires an individual diagnosis and 
individual treatment. The author of these 
lines had the misfortune to attend both college 

[ 53 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


and Theological Seminary when only the in¬ 
flexible courses were offered. Whatever the 
aptitude or mental taste, every pupil had his 
four years in Latin, Greek, English, etc., with¬ 
out choice. How utterly preposterous! How 
pitiably absurd on the part of educators! It 
must, however, be admitted that if the parent 
or teacher must understand the child so well 
as to know how to assist him into a well-poised 
being that much time and arduous labor will 
be necessary. Frankness demands such a con¬ 
fession. But the fruitage of such toilsome pa¬ 
tience will amply compensate the investor. 

Agricultural journals tell farmers how to 
secure or prepare a balanced ration for cattle 
so as to obtain, in accordance with desire, the 
largest flow of milk or the largest yield in but¬ 
ter fat. The Government director of Agricul¬ 
ture is of sufficient importance as to have a 
seat in the President’s Cabinet. It is time that 
a nation-wide effort were made to study the 
capabilities of our youths in America. Prior 
to the Harding administration, the question of 
education had no cabinet member. In the 

I 54 ] 



THE UNIFYING PROCESS 


world of education, the realm of possibility has 
remained an unknown wilderness or a vast 
stretch of barren waste. Unto this date the 
work of aiding the young to discover them¬ 
selves and to intelligently and fittingly find the 
task in life for which nature has fitted them is 
far too lightly esteemed. Think of the teem¬ 
ing multitudes today fighting a losing battle, 
unhappy because the primary work in discov¬ 
ering the gift of nature was neglected and be¬ 
cause the emphasis was wrongly placed. The 
new day of education is giving unusual stress 
to vocational training. Most high schools are 
prepared to give drawing, forging, wood turn¬ 
ing, domestic science and other useful sub¬ 
jects. The pity is that the student thinks he 
is educated when he completes such a course. 
While it does fit one for breadwinning, it 
should not be considered as education. God 
and man are co-partners. Paul calls it a mat¬ 
ter of “co-workers.” God’s part is to endow, 
man’s part is to enrich. God’s part is to cre¬ 
ate, man’s part is to improve. To state it dif¬ 
ferently, the mighty agencies are nature and 

[ 55 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


nurture. God gives the iron ore, man makes 
the watch spring. God affords to us the po¬ 
tentiality of a personality, man exhibits the 
grandeur of personality which is the soul’s 
manner of self-expression. 

The necessity of holding, in proper rela¬ 
tion, the different divisions of our nature can 
be clearly put before us by taking “idealism” 
as an illustration. Idealism is not manifest 
until one reaches late childhood. It makes its 
first appearance then and grows through early 
adolescence. In early adolescence it burns 
with accelerated intensity and its fervor grad¬ 
ually dies into embers in the passing from late 
adolescence into the adult state. Before the 
close of late adolescence the average person 
finds that the idealism that saw purity, good¬ 
ness, renown, honor, has now jostled against 
the world enough to know that there is a real, 
stubborn, practical world. He meets with the 
sordid and the selfish. He receives a mental 
and moral shock when he discovers, granting 
that he has been under proper tuition, that 
men are different from the spiritual picture 

[ 56 ] 



THE UNIFYING PROCESS 


created by his ideals. This brings a distinct 
disappointment for him. But what his ideals 
will ask of himself will depend on whether his 
body, which grows with unequal regularity, 
and his mind, whose powers separately appear 
in the passing of time, and his soul, which has 
a natural affinity for righteousness, have all 
had their Divinely appointed cravings satisfied. 
Idealism will require hedonistic or spiritual 
ends, according to the emphasis which it places 
on values. After it has announced a verdict 
then the work to achieve the goal is begun, 
whether in the field of “yellow journalism” or 
in the realm of ennobling literature. Either 
selfishness or altruism can claim the place of 
primacy. God has decreed that idealism must 
give place to realism. If one could remain 
throughout life in the idealistic state alone, 
there would be no achievement. If a man will 
hitch his wagon to a star, it must be done while 
idealism creates the necessity and opportunity. 
The help needed to insure this desire can be 
guaranteed only by such a unifying of the pow¬ 
ers of the immature as will permit, yes, en- 

[ 57 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


force, the craving for the best in life. This 
can be done if attempted before life gets its 
‘set.” It is impossible for the young to know 
the value of an education. It seems to be a 
strange Providence that its value cannot be 
known until it is too late to retrieve the op¬ 
portunity. The unification work must be be¬ 
gun by others, but continued by us if we 
would be perfect. 

We therefore see that it is both possible and 
profitable to rationally discover and purpose¬ 
fully use a method by which the powers of 
the mind can be so educated that unanimity 
in action can be instantly compelled. To dis¬ 
cover and use this unifying process empowers 
the individual for happiness and usefulness. 
It contributes to the perpetuity of the home 
and the life of the nation. It enables one to 
intelligently select, from a multitudinous 
group, the best form of life service. It af¬ 
fords one the joy of possessing the guarantee 
of a Divine calling for special service. In or¬ 
der to make the Will sovereign, or to become 
as we say “self-possessed,” the unifying pro- 

[ 58 ] 



THE UNIFYING PROCESS 


cess must be capitalized. The inevitable ques¬ 
tion, “How to Unify,” is answered in the 
abundant literature on Child Psychology, 
Teacher Training, etc. The answer can be 
made in the discovery of the time when the 
different departments of the mind appear and 
by the appropriate application of the proper 
stimulus. This makes the attack for teacher 
or parent sublimely simple and simply sub¬ 
lime. 


[ 59 1 



CHAPTER IV 


The Divine Ideal. 

In our cosmos sphere we are beset on every 
hand by a system of laws. And “Of law there 
can be none the less said than that her voice 
is the voice of God.” The growth of the body, 
the development of the mind or the course of 
a planet results only in obedience to a behest 
of a law of nature. Even forgiveness of sin is 
an accomplished fact only in strict obedience 
to a law operative in our world. Nor can we 
expect favoritism with nature for she is “red 
in tooth and claw.” The earth will yield her 
increase equally in abundance, under like con¬ 
ditions, for rich or poor, king or peasant, 
priest or pillager. If we disregard the sani¬ 
tary conditions which are incident to civiliza¬ 
tion, disease and death will certainly ensue. 
The missionary who drinks water impregnate 
with dangerous bacteria is as liable to typhoid 
fever as is someone who is a social menace. If 
we disregard the law of gravity, no structure 

[ 60 ] 


THE DIVINE IDEAL 


which we erect will endure. If we fail to ob¬ 
serve the season for planting, our prairies of 
plenty will be transformed into bleak barrens. 
These principles, and a myriad others, are here 
not for the purpose of confounding us, but 
that we might discover them and be enabled 
to work with God for the accomplishment of 
designs which are amazingly grand in concep¬ 
tion and meritoriously excellent in execution. 

Since the mind has a variety of modes of 
activity, we are well within our right to sur¬ 
mise that God has a purpose in such a design. 
Surely man’s Imagination, Memory, Will, etc., 
are not accidental and unnecessary. 

Let us inquire into the beginning of the in¬ 
dividual life and report our find. It is easy to 
see that every one begins life not only “sans 
teeth,’’ but almost “sans anything.’’ We do 
find, however, that every child begins life with 
innocence—God’s Best Gift to Man. Bishop 
W. A. Quayle, in his book, “The Pastor- 
Preacher,’’ teaches that every child who comes 
into the world is born a Christian and that 
he becomes a Mohammedan or Budhist by 

[ 61 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


roughness of environment. Whether issue is 
taken at this point, all will readily concede 
that innocence is an original state bequeathed 
to every member of the human family. Though 
men may later engage in every sin mentioned 
by Paul in his letter to the Romans, God is 
careful to permit even the offspring of har¬ 
lots as well as the “children of obedience” to 
begin an earthly career in the rightful posses¬ 
sion of innocence. Just as the law of gravity 
is without exception in its operation, so there 
is ‘‘no shadow cast by turning” in this merci¬ 
ful and beneficent act of Providence. 

A few years ago a citizen of Alabama died 
who possessed a most remarkable degree of 
self-control. He was a very proud man, not 
in the sense of haughtiness, but in the sense of 
conscious, personal integrity. He could never 
stoop to conquer. Whatever goal was ahead, 
he reached without soiled garments or stained 
hands. The first man has yet to speak who 
ever accused him of tricks in trade or of having 
concealed motives of doubtful propriety. It 
is not to be wondered at then that men, white 

[ 62 ] 



THE DIVINE IDEAL 


and black, from all classes came to him for 
business advice and friendly counsel, for no 
secret or private business reposed in him was 
ever divulged. 

He had a quick temper, but he was not sud¬ 
den in quarrel. You would rarely find such 
self-mastery in the midst of an untoward en¬ 
vironment. He was not like a reed shaken 
by the wind, but more like the wind itself. 
Passions were always tempered by his sound 
judgment and public opinion did not unduly 
sway him. His acts were unusually responsi¬ 
ble because, having a well-ordered will, he 
chose to perform certain deeds. This ac¬ 
counts for the fact that he was honest in ac¬ 
tion, temperate in speech, courteous in bear¬ 
ing, simple in habits, tender in sympathy, a 
lover of mankind, and a friend to God. Selfish¬ 
ness was as far removed from his thought as 
injustice is from the throne of Deity. Though 
he had commendable aspiration, he savingly 
mixed humility with ambition. The communi¬ 
ty loved him because he had humility without 
hypocracy, industry without greed, ambition 

[ 63 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


without a crime and greatness without pre¬ 
tense. 

This man’s going into the great beyond 
caused the family to lose a faithful husband 
and devoted father, the community its first 
citizen, the church an interested member and 
liberal supporter and the state as true a patriot 
as ever drew the blade. Such as was he are 
worthy of gorgeous burial rites, but his pref¬ 
erence was not favorable towards ostentation. 
So, with simple ritual, he was laid away. 

“Can storied urn or animated bust 
Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? 
Can honor’s voice provoke the silent dust, 

Or flattery soothe the dull, cold ear of death?” 

It is a pity that Gray’s question has to be 
answered in the negative. Since this is true, 
we are comforted in the thought that 

‘‘On God and God-like men we build our 
trust.” 

The reader may conclude that God selected 
many of the best virtues and graces and 

[ 64 ] 



THE DIVINE IDEAL 


crowded them into this life. This is not the 
case. By nature he was not abnormally en¬ 
dowed above the average man, if, perchance, 
there is such a one as “an average man.” He 
merely kept and used what by inheritance he 
received, and it grew from more to more 
through use. Thus personality expressed it¬ 
self by numerous tokens. A great personal¬ 
ity never has to announce his presence. We 
“feel,” that is, we sense that we are in his pres¬ 
ence. The contour of the face, quaintness of 
speech, bodily posture, unexpected compos¬ 
ure and many other manifestations will be¬ 
tray him. Oh, the ineffable glory of possess¬ 
ing such a charm! Only a few words from 
the simple will disclose the secret that to listen 
further is a waste of time. 

It is generally an accepted axiom that all 
men are not of equal ability in endowments 

nor of equal value to society. But any per¬ 
sonality can be so established in correct atti¬ 
tudes of life that he will react appropriately, 
without variation, in any given situation. 
Whatever stimulus may be applied, his reac¬ 
tion will be properly praiseworthy. 

[ 65 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


We can now begin to see the why of the 
Original Elements and the necessity of their 
being unified. God gave to man an innocence 
which he intended man should keep through¬ 
out the span of life, an innocence which he 
could carry with him to the grave, an inno¬ 
cence which will be befitting one who becomes 
a member of the white-robed throng. To be¬ 
gin, to continue, to end life in its happy real¬ 
ism is surely the Divine Ideal. It is to be 
maintained by means of the proper control of 
the mental powers. 

There are thousands today who teach that 
the great example in Christian activity is 
clearly set forth in the Pauline life and the 
Damascus Road experience. But there is an 
example of much higher authority found in 
the one of whom it was said: “Him who 
knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf.” 
2 Cor. 5:21. The Carpenter’s Son guarded 
like a sentinel his state of innocence, keeping it 
with strict regularity from Bethlehem to Gol¬ 
gotha. However marvelous and necessitous 
is conversion for the perversely sinful, it is 

[ 66 ] 



THE DIVINE IDEAL 


manifestly greater glory to preserve the soul 
in its original integrity. It is more laudable 
than to have the greatest recorded moral 
transformation which has been ascribed to any 
man. “Who knew no sin”—is the ideal placed 
before every aspiring soul. 

The academic question is perennially asked, 
can a man live in “this present evil world” 
without sin? Again Jesus is the answer. He 
did know of sin mentally, but his soul was 
never polluted by the defilement of its guilt. 
Anyone may perceive the presence of sin 
without becoming morally a partaker of its 
nature. This is just the thing that did happen 
at the well dug by Jacob near Sychar. 

Oliver Goldsmith says: 

“But a bold peasantry, their country’s pride, 
When once destroyed, can never be supplied.” 

Likewise, when innocence is once lost, it 
can never, never be restored. God can for¬ 
give the sin, but that high state of moral pro¬ 
prietorship of innocence has eternally passed 
from him. It would seem that the acme of 

[ 67 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


holiness consists in preserving, inviolate, this 
Divinely appointed state. The greatest per¬ 
sonality that ever put foot on this planet for¬ 
ever established in his own life the tenet re¬ 
corded in the wisdom literature: “And he that 
ruleth his spirit (is better) than he that taketh 
a city.” The innocence of the Christ life 
stands as a perpetual rebuke to the widely 
prevalent error, “a reformed ^drunkard can 
most successfully preach against drunken¬ 
ness.” Because Christ knew no sin, none born 
of woman could match him in invectives 
against tyranny, injustice, hypocracy and de¬ 
ceit. Never man spake such words of au¬ 
thority, or, to change the figure, words which 
were sharper than a sword with two edges. 

The most powerful weapon in the hands of 
Satan with which to deter men from construct¬ 
ive Christian service is their consciousness of 
having done wrong. The layman who has 
been treacherous or profane during the week 
will generally decline to offer public prayer 
or testimony in the temple of worship on the 
Sabbath day. He sits among those who per- 

[ 68 ] 



THE DIVINE IDEAL 


haps know of his duplicity and his conscience 
makes a coward of him. He will likely ascribe 
his unwillingness to inexperience in such mat¬ 
ters or to lack of gift in public speech. Gen¬ 
erally the real inability imposed upon him is 
due to moral deviations and not to mental or 
physical limitations. If the same layman has 
a conscience that is void of offence towards 
men and God, he will not be abashed over 
much in his attempts. Sin with a sense of at¬ 
tendant guilt, is the great deterrent in the ex- 
pressional activities of Christian service. 

“My strength is as the strength of ten, be¬ 
cause my heart is pure,” is the way Tennyson 
puts it. 

A just cause makes one thrice armed, but 
innocence furnishes the most powerful ally, 
offensive or defensive, in any affair which man 
may enterprise. Children furnish the type of 
heavenly citizenship and the chief fact adored 
in childhood is unmistakably the utter absence 
of guilt. Such innocence universally found 
in adulthood would make our commonwealth 
a real Acadia. 


[ 69 ] 



CHAPTER V 


The Supremacy of the Mind of the Spirit 

A great discourse on the results of the con¬ 
flict of the mind of the flesh against the mind 
of the spirit is found in the letter of Paul to 
the Roman Christians. Indeed, it might be 
better termed THE great discourse. In a 
most sound, philosophic way, he deals with 
subjects positively fundamental in successful 
living, setting forth the eternal and necessary 
enmity of the flesh against the spirit. 

Before the days of Gregory I there arose a 
belief in self-mortification. This interpreta¬ 
tion arose from Paul’s statement, “They that 
are in the flesh cannot please God.’’ The monks 
believed, taught and practiced the doctrine that 
the less flesh a man had the more easily could 
sainthood be attained. This would be a most 
comforting fact, if it were only true, to a man 
of the physical endowment of Washington 
Irving’s Ichabod Crane, but a sledge-hammer 
blow against a man of the build of King Eglon, 

[ 70 ] 


SUPREMACY of the MIND of the SPIRIT 


whom Ehud slew. So in the early days of Chris¬ 
tianity men went into multitudinous excesses 
in order to reduce the flesh by means of dif¬ 
ferent instruments of torture. But this availed 
nothing. The absence of baths, the partaking 
of abstemious diet, the wounding and fester¬ 
ing of the flesh could not heal the moral ills of 
the individual or cure the maladies of the body 
politic. These ascetic practices might abound, 
they might be rigorously observed and yet the 
individual remain a social leper. The place 
of remedial attack was to be found not in the 
physical body, but in the mind, which needed 
spiritual culture. 

If a man desires to live on the plane which 
is merely animal he will find himself environed 
by a multitude as great as that which Elisha’s 
servant saw covering the mountain. Having 
eaten and drunken to satiety, this multitude 
will lie down and sleep as a preparation for a 
new round of carnal experience in appeasing 
fleshly appetites and passions. 

If a man desires to cultivate his mind, to 
have an appreciative sense of literature, mu- 

[ 71 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


sic, travel, art in painting and art in sculpture, 
he will find himself in a company not as large, 
though more mighty than the former. 

If a man chooses to so live as to have the 
mind of the spirit, he will discover that he is 
in a small, select company—a company com¬ 
posed of those only who wear, swinging from 
their girdles, the keys which unlock the king¬ 
dom’s doors. Thrones and dominions are sub¬ 
ject unto them. Majesty and power are theirs 
also. 

The human race continues stupidly dull. It 
seems that the cumulative wisdom of the ages 
amounts to no more than a snowflake on a 
river. We do not seem to progressively profit 
by the experience of past generations. One 
cannot happily succeed while possessing the 
mind of the flesh. One cannot succeed while 
possessing the mind of the flesh AND the 
mind of the spirit. One’s personality must 
be dominated by the mind of the spirit alone, 
if he would have the “more exceeding and 
eternal weight of glory.’’ Whenever Israel 
compromised with the enemy round about, it 

1 72 ] 



SUPREMACY of the MIND of the SPIRIT 


always meant that Israel was forsaking Je¬ 
hovah and was adopting heathen worship. 
When the church ignores or minifies sin, the 
church gains nothing but she loses all. The 
individual who is dominated by the mind of 
the flesh has injected into his soul an element 
which will eat as doth a cancer. By heeding 
the demands of the fleshly mind, we come into 
possession of a body of knowledge which we 
have no moral right to enjoy. 

Herein is the crime and shame, yes, the in¬ 
famy, of the dance, a practice which can have 
not the slightest moral sanction. The knowl¬ 
edge obtained through a promiscuity of sex 
contact, and that under a dangerous setting, is 
of such a character as renders it impossible to 
administer to any legitimate or worthy end in 
life. No youth has a right to know anything 
which deflects from the path of virtue and 
honor. The lover who would willingly permit 
his fiancee to be wrapped in the lecherous em¬ 
brace of a ballroom devotee, even though a 
so-called society condones it, is woefully lack¬ 
ing in moral sanity. The wife who can expe- 

[ 73 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


rience joy in seeing her husband enfold an¬ 
other’s wife to his bosom, and whirl in the 
giddy maze, is void of understanding. The 
dance has never fortified modesty, sobriety or 
chastity. Its tendency is towards peril, for the 
desire which originates it arises from the flesh¬ 
ly mind. Its path, like the path of glory, 
leads but to the grave. 

Another moral nuisance which should be 
abated or rather completely destroyed is the 
present order of movies. “But,” says one, 
“the picture show is a great educational factor 
in the world’s life.” Precisely so, and therein 
is the unspeakable danger. It does educate, 
but wrongly. There are some scenes that are 
good and others which are not bad. But the 
larger body of facts assimilated by the youth 
is of evil tendency. That education that leads 
the aspiring youth to desire to become a “Wild 
West” highwayman rather than follow in the 
footsteps of General Robert E. Lee, one of the 
cleanest men ever in the public life of Amer¬ 
ica, is blightingly defective. Any school teach¬ 
er can testify that the average child in the 

[ 74 ] 



SUPREMACY of, the MIND of the SPIRIT 


grammar grades who is an habitue of the mov¬ 
ies can tell ten times as many facts concern¬ 
ing “Fatty Arbuckle” or “Charlie Chaplin” 
and many other actors as he can about any 
like number of the greatest persons whose 
deeds have been recorded in human history. 
If any person has achieved greatness by reason 
of the fact that some movie actor inspired him 
we have failed to see the statement. But far 
greater than this is the impartation of those 
matters that ought to be a sealed book to chil¬ 
dren. Card playing, saloon or other drinking 
scenes, robbery, murder, free love, divorce 
cases, birth of children, scarlet women praised, 
kissing, adultery condoned, and their like have 
been put on reels for the entertainment (?) of 
the general public.. These are just the mat¬ 
ters which the mind of the flesh would seek. 
The best known psychological law is “Every 
impression requires a corresponding expres¬ 
sion.” But it does not require a psychologist 
to see that witnessing such scenes as just de¬ 
scribed will have the effect of “go thou and do 
likewise.” When we consider the moral char- 

[ 75 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


acter of some of the best known scenario stars 
and observe the result of their court records 
we are tempted to say that only a modicum of 
good can originate from such sources. Both 
the dance and the average picture show tend 
to break down the feeling of the sacredness of 
the human body. One who has the proper re¬ 
gard for his body—which is the temple of the 
Holy Ghost—will not permit the body to be 
promiscuously handled by a coarse and vulgar 
crowd. A woman has gone far on the road 
towards shame who will bare her limbs to the 
gaze of theatrical spectators. Modesty would 
such coarse demeanor forbid. Every man 
should carry to the marriage altar a body 
which is pure and strong. This can be done 
by walking the way of the undefiled. This 
can be done by placing a wide margin between 
himself and any scene which will beget action 
whose normal fruitage is sin. 

Dancing and picture shows are not the only 
agencies for moral decline. These two have 
been singled out from among the many be¬ 
cause of the widespread knowledge of their 

[ 76 ] 










SUPREMACY of the MIND of the SPIRIT 


deleterious effect. Unchaperoned auto riding 
at night, promiscuous bathing, inattention to 
associates, gambling practices and many kin¬ 
dred perils could be mentioned. 

Moral excellence is a state which is enjoyed 
in direct proportion to our proximity to God. 
Every one may find himself somewhere on this 
sliding scale. But this proximity is accom¬ 
plished by the attitude of the mind rather than 
by the position of the body. We find our free¬ 
dom to be complete when we keep the mind 
clear of evil thoughts, for the expression or as¬ 
sertion of the mind of the spirit will make each 
subsequent repetition easier. 

It is not necessarily true that one act will 
force a habit. It is a safe specific, however, 
that no act should be performed whose effect 
is not intended to be a permanent contribu¬ 
tion to character. The line of demarkation be¬ 
tween the mind of the flesh and the mind of 
the spirit is like the crest of a mountain which 
makes a water shed. The finished product of 
the one finds some such expression as “Yet 
here a spot. . . . Out, damned spot! out, 

[ 77 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


Isay! . . . Here s the smell of blood still; 

all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten 
this little hand.” The finished product of the 
other finds an expression in some such confes¬ 
sion as ‘‘The best of all is God is with us.” 

This, then, is the story simply told. During 
the days of complete innocence the child is to 
be shielded from the poisonous influences 
which would enthrone the unworthy by those 
who are responsible to God for the religious 
education of the child. This defensive work 
is a laborious and painstaking one which re¬ 
quires perpetual vigilance. Again, parents 
must provide proper stimulus for the growing 
mind. Suitable companionships, proper 
books, correct habits and a long list of other 
needful matters must be provided. 

When the person begins the work of think¬ 
ing for himself and acting on his own respon¬ 
sibility, he must continue the same path as he 
has hitherto trodden or he will leave the way 
that leads to the desired goal. It requires the 
co-operative effort of parent and child just as 
the joint effort of God and man are enjoined. 

[ 78 ] 



SUPREMACY oft the MIND of the SPIRIT 


The contest between evil and good will con¬ 
tinue as long as there are selfish men on the 
earth. It remains a case of 

“Truth forever on the scaffold, 

Wrong forever on the throne.” 

It appears that the whole educational world 
has received a new impetus toward giving em¬ 
phasis to the spiritual in men. In addition to 
mere academic learning, educators are now 
seeing that their work in instruction has failed 
unless the learners have acquired the spiritual 
view of the world. This is entirely consistent 
with the biological theory. Without the im- 
partation of spiritual ideals, men are no “bet¬ 
ter than sheep or goats.” It has been all too 
fully exemplified by the death of ten million 
men and the wounding of thirty million oth¬ 
ers that crass materialism cannot be trusted 
in individual thought, in national council or 
in international relation. With us of the 
South, it is not the negro as a class that creates 
a social menace. It is the negro who is filled 
with beastly impulses, the one who is void of 

1 79 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


the Spirit of Christ. Likewise it is not white 
supremacy that imperils civilization in the 
South, but that segment of society which does 
not hesitate to burn a neighbor’s barn, flog ten¬ 
ants in the community, or unjustifiably take 
a man’s life; the white man in whose heart 
justice, righteousness or brotherly considera¬ 
tion does not prevail. 

One great agency that has kept this divine 
passion of the mind of the spirit alive is the 
Christian pulpit. There are many other con¬ 
tributory agencies, but the pulpit stands pre¬ 
eminently singular in enforcing the conviction 
of the “Heavenly Mind.’’ In all of the changes 
in modern life the power of the pulpit is still 
felt and feared; felt as a force which makes 
for righteousness and feared by all workers 
of iniquitous schemes which have for their 

concealed purpose the enrichment of the purses 
of the few by means of the moral ruin of the 
many. Hence when the hour of worship is 
announced every one is invited to come and 
assist in the impartation and in the reception 
of the greatest principles ever enunciated in 
any human conclave. 

[ 80 ] 



SUPREMACY of, the MIND of the SPIRIT 


The enthronement of the Spirit s mind can 
be made possible by heeding Paul’s words to 
the Philippians: “Whatsoever things are true, 
whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever 
things are just, whatsoever things are pure, 
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever 
things are of good report, if there be any vir¬ 
tue, if there be any praise, think on these 
things.” Keep them ever in the margin of 
attention so that we may attend to them and 
attend from any corrupting suggestion that 
might attempt to force iself into notice. Also, 
“Never suffer an exception to occur till the 
new habit is securely rooted in your life. Seize 
the first opportunity to act on every resolution 
you make.” This will help to focus attention 
on some splendid motive and will doubtless 
end in automatic action for notable achieve¬ 
ment. This will crowd out the possibility of 
room for any other consideration. Or, to ex¬ 
press it Davidically, we exclaim: “My heart is 
fixed, O God, my heart is fixed.” 


1 81 ] 



CHAPTER VI 


The Unit of Causation 

It must not be inferred from what has been 
said in the other chapters that the building of 
character or the organization of personality 
can be attained by leaving God out of account. 
We have pointed out that certain laws which 
operate in human life can and must be known 
and respected. But it must be borne in mind 
that these are God’s laws. And since they 
are His they are immutable. 

There are three necessary factors for every 
life: Heredity, Environment and God. Log¬ 
ic, religion, observation, common sense impel 
such a category. To affirm that life can be 
normal, bereft of any one of these principles, 
is mere madness. Yet there are those in the 
academic world who would try to account for 
the development of the human race on other 
grounds than on spiritual foundations. 

The effect of heredity cannot be laughed 
out of court. A review of the past will show 

[ 82 ] 


THE UNIT OF CAUSATION 


that its effect is far-reaching. In former years, 
particularly in the South, before marriage was 
enterprised, special inquiry was made concern¬ 
ing the family tree. Much cheap wit has been 
promulgated concerning this important matter. 
We have been told not to trace the subject of 
the family tree too far lest we find that the 
tree is a bush, and a gooseberry bush at that. 
That is trenchant satire, but very poor advice. 
Such an answer from the sophist is a mere jar¬ 
gon of nonsense. History is too replete with 
contradictions to permit such a postulate as 
the cynic avers to go unchallenged. Mozart’s 
father was a violinist. Beethoven’s father was 
a tenor singer. Thorwalden, who chiseled the 
Dying Lion of Lucerne, was the son of a man 
who was a carver of figures. Such a tabula¬ 
tion could be carried to a wearisome length in 
a list of scientists, statesmen and literary char¬ 
acters. The great blessing of good heredity is 
found in that highly honored Jonathan Ed¬ 
wards’ family. Many in this line became min¬ 
isters, lawyers, congressmen, college presi¬ 
dents and other professional leaders who ren- 

[ 83 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


dered distinguished service in this govern¬ 
ment. The high cost of poor heredity has been 
typified in the “Jukes” family which furnished 
evil forces in murder, theft, drunkenness, im¬ 
becility and in many other forms of unsocial 
conduct, which lower the value of society. The 
observant can easily tell that both physical and 
mental likeness are bequeathed to children. 
The Mendelian law shows that certain charac¬ 
teristics, in uniform proportions, are handed 
down from the parent stock. 

Environment is very important because it 
furnishes the social stimulus which works for 
good or evil. When a mother instructs her 
son not to form certain friendships, she is in 
reality trying to give her son a helpful environ¬ 
ment. Humanly speaking, it is quite impossi¬ 
ble for anyone to live in certain evil surround¬ 
ings without being tinged with deteriorating 
impulses. Pope spoke of it when he said: 

“Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, 

As to be hated needs but to be seen; 

But seen too oft, familiar with her face 
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.” 

1 84 ] 



THE UNIT OF CAUSATION 


It is one thing to make pronouncements of 
being independent of one’s environment, but 
quite another to be placed amidst evil environ- 
” ments and not yield to their insidious influ¬ 
ence. It requires more than human strength 
to have a masterful control of self when 
pressed on every side by ungracious invita¬ 
tions to participate in common evils. 

But as we have given much consideration 
to the human side of the question of personal¬ 
ity, we must now turn to the side that is not 
human. In a chapter in “The Church and So¬ 
cial Reform,” by Professor Barker, of Boston 
University, we find this statement: “Profes¬ 
sor F. H. Giddings says that Sociologists find 
nowhere a social force that has not been 
evolved in a physical organic process.” 

“Benjamin Kidd makes social progress con¬ 
sist in the increased efficiency of natural selec¬ 
tion and rejection, which is carried forward 
through the struggle between individuals and 
the race. His theory gives no hint of divine 
revelation or grace.” 

“William McDougall says that the concep- 

[ 85 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


tion of supernatural powers is the product of 
man’s creative imagination working through 
and under the driving power of insincts, fear, 
curiosity and subjection.’’ 

There are many others who hold the natu¬ 
ralistic conception of causation. But the 
Christian view is that all moral reforms, all so¬ 
cial progress is due to the working of the Spir¬ 
it of God in the life of man. We cheerfully 
accord that the physical and the psychical con¬ 
ditions which underlie the social order are fun¬ 
damentally biological in character, yet we 
maintain that God must be eminent in every 
step of social progress. There is no intent on 
our part to disregard natural law. We would 
magnify it more and more, but we must in¬ 
sist that it is the basis for Divine operation. 
The conclusion that the Spirit of God is the 
unit of causation in all helpful progress seems 
inevitable. 

“We know what master laid thy keel, 

What workman wrought thy ribs of steel.’’ 

It requires God’s power, added to man’s ef- 

1 86 ] 



THE UNIT OF CAUSATION 


fort to make a personality that is satisfactory. 
The human personality must possess love for 
the Divine before the work of the new life 
begins. Noble purposes and all spiritual enti¬ 
ties are born of the heart. They do not neces¬ 
sarily arise from the will. It is as foolish and 
absurd for man to disregard God in the effort 
at perfecting personality as it is absurd for a 
manufacturer of steel to ignore mineral sub¬ 
stance or for the carpenter to attempt to erect 
a structure denying his need of building mate¬ 
rial. God cannot succeed without us and we 
cannot succeed without Him. Nothing less 
than the best in help, the purest in ideal, the 
noblest in pursuit, the holiest in attainment 
can inspire and satisfy man when at his best. 
God is the answer to all of these needs. The 
man who would forget the immortal Will in 
himself and the inevitable soul thirst for God, 
and God’s increasing effort at a revelation of 
Himself in the life of man is fundamentally 
defective in his life-building scheme. He is 
likened to a painstaking sculptor who chisels 
his creation on a block of melting ice. He is 

[ 87 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


as stupid as a skilled artist who paints his mas¬ 
ter creation on tissue paper. “Without me ye 
can do nothing* * is John’s statement of our 
Lord’s commanding position in human affairs. 

“Paul may plant, Apollos may water, but 
only God can give the increase.” Man may 
conform, but God only can transform. It 
takes oxygen and hydrogen to make water. 
It requires man and God to constitute life at 
the highest level. 

To summarize: The important matter of 
Religious Education, though given certain con¬ 
sideration, has not received proper emphasis 
from any source. Being essentially necessary 
to the formation of that character which God 
requires, society covets and the individual 
needs, Religious Education must attempt an 
ampler program in the home, the school and 
especially the church. Since the worth of civ¬ 
ilization is found in the center, we begin with 
the individual. We must know what his en¬ 
dowments are by birth and get him into that 
path that leads to power. No endowment of 
mind which man inherits must be left alone. 

[ 88 ] 



THE UNIT OF CAUSATION 


The Divine purpose for man seems to be that 
man may keep his body under and evermore 
retain his innocency. To subordinate, then, 
every mental faculty to the mastery of a sanc¬ 
tified Will appears to be the human goal and 
the Divine ideal. If the mind of the Spirit is 
to prevail with undisputed sway as a sovereign 
power in the life of any man, painstaking ef¬ 
fort must be expended for its accomplishment. 
When should the work of co-ordination, con¬ 
centration and organization begin? 

If not today, then not at all; 

Behold the mighty monarchs fall, 

Vast empires rot in blackened slime 
Which wait in vain for better time. 

If not today, then not at all; 

You think you’ll stand, but you will fall. 
Soul, take thine ease, sleep, drink and eat, 
This plan is Satan’s wish replete. 

If not today, then not at all, 

So Father, Son and Spirit call; 

Lest hurriedly to judgment brought, 

Give now your fate some solemn thought. 

[ 89 ] 



ORGANIZATION OF PERSONALITY 


If not today, then not at all; 

Let prayer, like sweet incense from all, 
Upward, heavenward, rise today; 

Cry “Mercy, life, the light, the way!” 

If not today, then not at all; 

Longer delay means you will fall 
Where sermon, song and mother’s prayer 
Will but increase hopeless despair! 


[ 90 1 




































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